food

There’s a difficult scene in toward the beginning of Candace Walsh’s memoir, Licking The Spoon, where five-year-old Walsh is essentially force-fed her dinner amidst tears, gagging, and vomit. This particularly heartbreaking image propelled me back to my own memories of sitting at my childhood dinner table, locked in a fierce battle between myself, my father, and food. Walsh’s tantalizing descriptions of both the recipes and people in her life help pull the reader into a story that’s a perfect mix of memoir and indulgent foodie read. I spoke with Walsh about the challenges of writing a memoir, the notion of choosing our own families, and the erotic potential of food.

What compelled you to write a memoir in your forties? It’s a relatively young age.

CANDACE WALSH: I was very influenced by Anais Nin, who kept a diary her entire life. I also kept a diary from childhood through my early twenties. I saw that I had lots of material. I had a consciousness of the narrative as it unfolded. It seemed to have an arc. I also didn't want to wait because I felt like the story elements were fresh in my mind now, in a way that they wouldn't be when I was, say, 65.

There's that axiom that can be seen as a curse: "May you live in interesting times." I had to overcome a lot of challenges. My parents were young and didn't have their acts together. There was a lot of addiction, rage, dysfunction, sadness and pain in my family during my childhood. But at the same time, as I grew up, the culture was shifting. People started telling the truth about their experiences, instead of keeping silent and perpetuating them. There have also been so many epic civil rights gains for gay people in the last 20 years. So I felt that I had a personal story to tell which highlights the relationship between those dynamics.

Bitch in a Box, Foodies Edition is here to help you holiday shop for all those people in our life who love making, eating, and taking photos of food.

For Part III of Who's Hungry?, we're serving up a proper five-course feast. Get ready to dig in as we present some of the best food songs out there.

Today would have been Julia Child's 100th birthday. Though the legendary cook, author, and pop culture personality died in 2004, her delicious (feminist!) legacy lives on.


Happy Birthday! Photo by Arnold Newman/Getty Images

Enter Mario Batali, the Crocs-wearing beponytailed celebrity chef best known for his shows on the Food Network and that time he drove around Spain with Gwyneth Paltrow. Recently, Batali left the show Iron Chef, and earlier this week at the Atlantic Food Summit he explained why. Said Batali:

When they had judges like you [Corby Kummer] and Jeff Steingarten and Dana Cowin and Ed Levine, people whose opinion I felt merited the ability to criticize my food, that’s one thing. But when all of a sudden you get these skinny little actresses from a show called The OC and they’re saying they don’t like raw fish, I’m like, ‘Fuck you, why are you talking about my food? Who let you in this room?’ ‘Oh, I really don’t like that.’ Well who the fuck are you?

Happy Thanksgiving Leftovers Day! If you, like me, spent the morning deciding between pie and mashed potatoes for breakfast, you might need some songs about food to provide a soundtrack to your day. Here are two past BitchTapes, republished with your gustatory needs in mind. Betcha can't eat listen to just one! Who's Hungry? Part I



Track list and Who's Hungry? Part II after the jump!

In the U.S., food marketing and consumption is highly gendered. In the funny pages, Cathy gobbles down chocolate and Dagwood constructs towering, meaty sandwiches. On the Internet, the Women Laughing Alone With Salad is an exemplary (and hilarious) meme. Guy vegans seemed like such a quaint anomaly that a Boston Globe reporter tried to make "hegan" happen in 2010. I say "in the U.S." because the nation apparently has an extreme case of food gendering, thanks to our robust and omnipresent advertising industry and a steady, though not necessarily high-quality or healthy, food supply. In a Salon article exploring gendered representations and connotations of food, Riddhi Shah writes "In the U.S., instead, it was an extension of one’s identity, a phenomenon made possible by the United States’ unique history of unrivaled luxury." Put another way: you are what you eat.

Oprah has made clear throughout this season that because it’s the last, she only wants to cover topics and guests of real significance to her—I applaud her for using her platform to raise awareness about the benefits of a vegan diet. That being said, this episode was a real mixed bag.

No matter what you celebrate this time of year, chances are you're going to need to buy a gift for someone, and that's where our "Bitch in a Box" series comes in! Between now and the end of December, we (Bitch HQ staff and interns) will be taking turns writing themed gift guides designed to please even the scroogiest feminists on your shopping list. Here's my guide to edible gifting—be sure to add your own suggestions in the comments!

No matter what you celebrate this time of year, chances are you're going to need to buy a gift for someone, and that's where our "Bitch in a Box" series comes in! Between now and the end of the month, Bitch HQ staff and interns will be taking turns writing themed gift guides designed to please even the scroogiest feminists on your shopping list. Below, my picks for the book lovers in your life, all of which are as lovely to look at as they are to read.